Here are some articles and guest blog posts I've written for my friends at TechTarget, Ziff Davis, AlgoSec, and Rapid7: Key Network Security Questions You Need To Ask Your Cloud Vendors - Now! Everything happens for a reason in security How one bad decision brought down an enterprise e-commerce site in minutes With security, periodic and consistent is key How emerging threat intelligence tools affect network security The science behind ...
Continue Reading...If you're an IT or information security professional you need to know about a great - and relatively new - tool that you can use as part of your security assessment and/or user awareness and training programs...it's called LUCY. I came across a small online blurb about LUCY a few months ago and thought I would check it out. Having dealt with both open source and commercial email phishing tools ...
Continue Reading...The fifth-annual Worst Passwords List put out by SplashData is here and the findings aren't terribly surprising. Here are the top five:#1: 123456#2: password#3: 12345#4: 12345678#5: qwerty Good stuff! What's that quote about insanity? One of those security basics that we'll likely continue to ignore until the end of time. That's alright, as some of the best sideline analysts will proclaim: we need not focus on such trivial things. Well, they ...
Continue Reading...Ready to make some changes to your information security program for 2016? You need to read these pieces I've recently written: Setting and achieving realistic information security program goals for 2016 Information security's chicken and egg problem (formerly published at toolbox.com) Security's gaping hole - policy enforcement (formerly published at toolbox.com) Four reasons people aren't buying what you're selling in IT (formerly published at toolbox.com) When security policies are bad ...
Continue Reading...It's official - the 5th edition of my book Hacking For Dummies is out!Outside of the first edition that was written 13 years ago, this new edition has, by far, the most updates and improvements yet. All based on the mistakes I make and the things I learn in my hands-on work performing independent security vulnerability assessments and penetration tests, I feel like Hacking For Dummies has come of age.In ...
Continue Reading...Slow going on the posts lately - too busy writing for other websites! :-) So, here's some of my latest for you - this time on the subject of information security management and running an effective security program:Information security is not stagnant but dynamicThe mishandling sensitive data: Do you really know what you don’t know?Security Decision-Making: When Decisions Are Based on Fear Rather Than FactState of the Network study: How ...
Continue Reading...Here are some recent pieces I've written on information security that you might be interested in:Why regulating information security professionals is a bad thingYour network versus the cloud – what’s more secure?Solving major security infrastructure issues around interoperabilitySoftware-defined security: The future of network security?The biggest obstacle to securing Windows Server 2012Hidden vulnerabilities on your IIS 8 serversTighten Windows 8.1 security in five simple steps As always, my other information security ...
Continue Reading...There's a lot going on in the world of healthcare, including HIPAA compliance. This applies not only to healthcare providers, insurance companies, and the like but also any business and subcontractor that does business in this space.If you or someone you know falls under this umbrella, here are a few things I've written over the past several months that can help: What Security Professionals Need to Know about HIPAA‘Yes, HIPAA ...
Continue Reading...Here's an excellent quote about business execs I just came across from management expert, Peter Drucker. It could certainly apply to IT and security professionals just the same:"The most common cause of executive failure is inability or unwillingness to change with the demands of a new position. The executive who keeps on doing what he has done successfully before is almost bound to fail."...in other words, if you keep doing ...
Continue Reading...Check out the following information security management pieces I've written for Ziff Davis and IBM recently: If there’s a will with information security there will be a way Eight remarkable things you’re doing with security that you can make even betterDivulging sensitive info for a potential acquisition - good idea or bad?Formidable Threats and Minimal Visibility - A Troublesome CombinationWhen vendor security vulnerabilities become your own Additional information security content ...
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